Tag: Yusuf Ali

More efforts are being made by the Association of Nigerian Authors to spread the gospel of grassroots literacy in Nigeria. At a two-day workshop in Ilorin, Kwara State, penultimate week, attention was specifically placed on the role of Yusuf Ali (SAN) yearly grants to ANA for this purpose and more. Edozie Udeze reports.

It has become crystal clear that the current leadership of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that literature is taken to the remotest places in the Nigerian society.  Penultimate week at Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, members of ANA from across the states gathered together to rub minds on the issues that would help to prosper literary awareness.  The theme of the two-day workshop was capacity building on innovations in contemporary literary awareness campaigns in Nigeria.  It was held at the Knowledge Platform, Ilorin, where selected state council chairmen of ANA took time out to discuss topical themes around the Yusuf Ali (SAN) yearly grants to the association and what more to do to utilize the money well for the good of all.

On hand to deliver the lectures on three diverse themes were Dr. Wale Okediran, Izuchukwu Okeke and Funmi Ilori.  Okediran’s topic titled managing and financing literary projects and programmes for optimum results:  The practical realities, drew attention on actions writers should embark upon to ensure that they write well and also make money from their works.  Okediran, a former president of the Association was clear when he said, “this theme seeks to strengthen the ability of an organization or agency to achieve a desired outcome.  Therefore capacity building in this area can be defined as supporting an organization to build and maintain the skills, infrastructure and resources to achieve its mission”

Having stated this clearly, Okediran commended Yusuf Ali for his regular sponsorship of ANA programmes and projects, a gesture that has made it possible for ANA to fulfill most of its cardinal objectives.  He reminded the literary eggheads that the primary aims of ANA were to promote literature in both the indigenous and English languages and then see how to ensure that members’ welfare is constantly improved.  When this is properly done, it is good also to make efforts to discover new writers and try to celebrate international literary events whenever they do occur.  We are equally obliged to celebrate and eulogize and recognize literary icons in Nigeria”, Okediran noted, urging members to be more proactive.

In essence, prudent financial management can help to achieve these goals.  But where does the money come from when ANA is not a financial organization?  Okediran queried.  “Yes, we need to engage in income-based rather than budget-based spending”, he warned.  By this, he meant that both as a body and as individuals, it is necessary to retain positive cash flow balance.  However, when a deficit does occur, there should be accumulated surpluses sufficient to cover the current year‘s deficit.  What ANA is expected to do is to look into areas where it can establish operating reserves to finance growth and shortfalls.  In the thinking of Okediran, a physician turned writer who has also delved into politics, it is proper for a writer to write.  It is also financially wise for him to prepare ways to earn a living from his works.

The lecture which drew loud applause from writers specifically centred on various issues to keep the sector not only active, but equally help to make ANA responsive and responsible.  Okediran therefore posed; “There should be monthly readings by the state chapters of the association.  Yes, there should be good avenues to keep writers busy and purpose oriented.  In addition, writers should be closer to the older and experienced writers as sources of encouragement.  Taking that further, the body agreed that good publicity is cogent in this regard.  And so when anthologies are done, it will afford local members the opportunity to get published.

He also hinted on the exigencies of residency programmes, which he said often help writers to finish works they’ve  kept for so long or even get new ones started.  In any event, it is when a writer has the freedom and exclusiveness that he needs that he can be more productive.  He postulated thus: “this is a good innovation to support works of upcoming writers and the established ones.  Yes, writers residency is an enabling environment for writers to complete their ongoing works in an atmosphere of serene tranquility and quietness needed for the craft”.  Although this concept is still new in Nigeria, Okediran has started his own Ebedi residency programme which has seen both local and foreign writers utilizing the facilities to empower themselves more.  For this reason and more, he challenged more Nigerians to turn their abandoned homes in the society to writers to encourage them to produce more literary materials for the growth of the society.  He insisted that residencies for writers here in Nigeria is both necessary and expedient. “This is the time to get it going”, he explained.

On the whole, the ANA executives were told to look out for well-placed Nigerians who can always be of financial assistance  to ANA.  “In doing so, you can approach corporate bodies with bias for literature.  There are also individuals who can help.  And more than that, once money is involved, those who handle it should be prudent, should be able to keep an open and clean record to avoid doubts and mistrusts by members. Money meant for projects ought to be well-utilized”, he admonished.

On his own part Izuchukwu Okeke, a South Korean-based Nigerian scholar, and a member of ANA, in his topic titled digital and literary culture in Nigeria: surmounting the challenge of disruption and enhancing the reach of the story, reminded writers that this is a digital era; time for writers to brace up.  It is time to catch up with the trends of the moment to enrich writings in the global economy.  But he also quickly cautioned, based on his global exposure and contacts. “it is not all sectors that have digital love story to tell.  While many aspects of the global economy have beautiful stories with the global innovation, the story with the creative industry is different.  But we can use this means to write, market and publish our works.  For now, we do not all seem to understand the full import of this digital economy.  In well-developed worlds it is working; it is helping the creative industry and so on.  It is therefore our turn to key in now to grow and prosper”.  Okeke, a doctoral degree scholar in African literature in Pukyong National University, Busan, South Korea, pointed out. For him writers should use every available function to slot in their programmes to create more awareness thereby improving the sale of books.  In the end, more books would be sold and authors would make money.

“This is what happens in South Korea where books and writers are well celebrated by the society; where there are social grants to enhance literacy”, Okeke surmised.

In their responses, both the national president, Denja Abdullahi and the state chairmen commended Okediran and Okeke for the expository issues they espoused.  Abdullahi himself, a celebrated poet said, “this is an auspicious occasion.  We have learnt more and we are grateful to Yusuf Ali for his kind gestures in the past seven years.  His gesture has helped to stabilize ANA.  It has given us renewed hope and consciousness to move to the next level.  In his closing remarks, vice president Camy Ukah said, it was clear that members had learnt so much to go home to implement a lot to make ANA more prosperous and evenly known.

In the end, states were told to go and do more to continue to endear ANA to the people.  ANA was founded in 1981 by Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark and others to serve as an intelligentia group for writers in Nigeria.  And so the yearly Yusuf Ali N3 million grants have helped to attain this goal.  That was why the workshop became necessary and topical for more literary growth.